<p>The High Court on Monday ordered notice to the state government, BDA and other respondents over a PIL challenging the Bangalore Development Authority (Amendment) Act, 2020.</p>.<p>The state government introduced the amendment with an intention to regularise the approval of building plans without permission and construction without sanction.</p>.<p>The petition, filed by city-based RTI activist and advocate K B Vijaya Kumar and heard by a division bench headed by Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka, said the Supreme Court and the Karnataka High Court have been ordering that unauthorised structures from 2009 onwards must be demolished. The demolition process has been delayed due to the pandemic.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, the Legislative Assembly passed the amendment by inserting a new clause to the BDA Act — 38D — which was notified on October 21. The amendment states that all encroachments of BDA property prior to May 2020 will be eligible for regularisation by payment of a penalty.</p>.<p>The petition contended that the amendment is an affront to Article 14 of the Constitution, asserting that the BDA does not have the authority to regularise encroached land or construction subsequent to the transfer of layouts to the BBMP in 2007-08. The petition also contended that the power to sanction or approve building plan or initiate action against illegal structures rests with the BBMP and not with BDA.</p>.<p>“The move by the Government of Karnataka to regularise such illegalities after the Supreme Court pronouncement in 2009 and while the process of illegal constructions is under the consideration and orders of the High Court of Karnataka, is patently illegal, arbitrary, null and void,” the petition said.</p>
<p>The High Court on Monday ordered notice to the state government, BDA and other respondents over a PIL challenging the Bangalore Development Authority (Amendment) Act, 2020.</p>.<p>The state government introduced the amendment with an intention to regularise the approval of building plans without permission and construction without sanction.</p>.<p>The petition, filed by city-based RTI activist and advocate K B Vijaya Kumar and heard by a division bench headed by Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka, said the Supreme Court and the Karnataka High Court have been ordering that unauthorised structures from 2009 onwards must be demolished. The demolition process has been delayed due to the pandemic.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, the Legislative Assembly passed the amendment by inserting a new clause to the BDA Act — 38D — which was notified on October 21. The amendment states that all encroachments of BDA property prior to May 2020 will be eligible for regularisation by payment of a penalty.</p>.<p>The petition contended that the amendment is an affront to Article 14 of the Constitution, asserting that the BDA does not have the authority to regularise encroached land or construction subsequent to the transfer of layouts to the BBMP in 2007-08. The petition also contended that the power to sanction or approve building plan or initiate action against illegal structures rests with the BBMP and not with BDA.</p>.<p>“The move by the Government of Karnataka to regularise such illegalities after the Supreme Court pronouncement in 2009 and while the process of illegal constructions is under the consideration and orders of the High Court of Karnataka, is patently illegal, arbitrary, null and void,” the petition said.</p>
